The press release on the poll The poll data Also Joe Conason picks up on our previous note about the British investigation into the CIA's foolish claims about "bioweapons trailers" =========== More Short Articles Passionate anti-Semitism Ricin in the mail Poodle leaves sinking ship Army criticises Terror War strategy Iraq's WMD:  Case Closed Asymetric War in Iraq Information Operations Bad news for Bush Stripping Plame of cover Terrorists and Terrorism Experts Polycentric Iraqi Nationalism Bush flight suit mystery Thinking about the Iraqi resistance Public Baffled by Terror Alerts Normal Failures Bush in Free Fall INC and Blowback Google finds Weapons of Mass Destruction More Polls The Timothy McVeigh Finishing School Reinforcing an opinion Legitimacy Borderlands Orwellian Centenary Cognitive Dissonance Heaven and other things Polls, Polls, Polls Where are they now: Eugene Hasenfus More Mass Delusions WMD Trailers NOT NRA rules in Iraq:  Gun confiscation flops About that Anthrax... Another Fine Mess Chaos in Iraq

updated: June 17, 2003

Warbaby says:

Reality is still being held at bay.  A recent poll shows a sizable plurality of Americans have no idea what the facts are about Iraq's non-existant WMD.  And worse yet, nearly a quarter think Saddam used WMD in the start of the war!

Joe Conason at Salon pulled out this doozy:

War poll uncovers fact gap
Many mistakenly believe U.S. found WMDs in Iraq.
By Frank Davies
Inquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A third of the American public believes U.S. forces have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. Twenty-two percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons.

But such weapons have not been found in Iraq and were not used...

I'm underwhelmed.  This is exactly the same figures we've been seeing since December as about 30% of the US population is pro-war and completely delusional about it.  22% believing the weapons not only exist, but were used (I assume against US troops): astounding. 

Yikes.  Did I say yikes?

Here's the link to the poll study itself:
http://pipa.org/whatsnew/html/new_6_04_03.html

Here's the poll data  (first cut only, no crosstabs):
http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/Iraqqaire_5_03.pdf

Interestingly, 20%+ absolutely against the war and 30%+ in favor is roughly the same as the unreflective core opinion groups we saw back in February at the peak of the public opposition to the war.  In other words, the numbers aren't changing and attitudes are remarkably impervious to reality.  Furthermore, Bush still controls the wheels and levers driving the simulacrum / spectacle.  And delusions shall rule them...